PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Despite a first set victory for the Cornell volleyball team, Brown built steam as the match progressed and got a jump on the Big Red early in multiple sets, making it hard for Cornell to recover and resulting in a 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 18-25, 15-25) loss for the Big Red on Friday night at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.
"We just aren't executing in tight situations. We had moments of greatness tonight and showed what we can do, but we would follow it up with a couple of easy points for Brown," said Trudy Vande Berg, The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach of Volleyball. "Jackie Baker played out of her mind and Camryn Carlo came in and did some great things. We just need to put it together as a team."
Carlo made an immediate impact when she entered the game in the third set, finishing the match as one of four student-athletes with four block assists alongside Jillienne Bennett, Avery Hanan, and Sydney Moore. Blocking was once again a bright spot for Cornell, as the Big Red out-blocked the Bears, 10.0 to 8.0.
Baker was one of three Big Red players with double-digit digs, collecting 14 and making 19 receptions with zero errors. Emma Worthington also collected 14 digs to go along with a team-high 20 assists for her eighth double-double in 10 matches this season.
Seniors Casey Justus and Madison Baptiste paced the Big Red offensively with 10 kills apiece in the defeat, hitting .250 and .200, respectively, on the match. Both also added a pair of blocks, and Baptiste collected a team-high 15 digs to notch her second-straight double-double.
Rylee Baptiste also had a solid night for Cornell, securing double-digit assists with a career-high 14 while collecting nine digs.
The first set belonged to Cornell, who held Brown's attack to just a .080 hitting percentage and utilized strong play at the serving line to establish itself. With Cornell trailing early in the first set, 7-6, a pair of Brown errors and a Moore and Bennett block opened the door for the Big Red to claim a 9-7 advantage. Brown committed the first of what would be three service errors in the set, and Cornell would counter that with a pair of aces, providing an advantage in the opening series of play.
A pair of M. Baptiste kills made it a five point swing for Cornell, who led 11-7. The Big Red held the momentum for a few moments, but with the Big Red holding a 14-10 advantage, Brown scored four straight points to tie things up, 14-14.
Three consecutive Cornell points would be the difference maker for the Big Red, however, as a Hanan kill, Brown attack error, and Joanna Chang service ace gave the Big Red a 17-14 lead that it would never relinquish. The Big Red would go on to take the first set, 25-20.
From here on out, however, it was Brown that jumped out to claim early advantages in sets two, three, and four, creating holes for Cornell that proved too much to dig out of. The Big Red showed tremendous fight in the second, and after trailing by as many as six points, 15-9, started to chip away at the Brown lead. Cornell would get it as close as two points on multiple occasions, the first being 19-17 after back-to-back kills by M. Baptiste and Chang. Brown would re-extend its lead to four, 21-17, but Cornell wouldn't allow it, as kills from Justus and Worthington cut it back down to two, 21-19. It's as close as Cornell would get, however, as it couldn't get over the hump in the second set and Brown evened up the match with a 25-21 set two win.
Brown ran out to a 9-3 lead to open the third, once again putting Cornell behind the eight ball. Carlo provided a spark off the bench, helping the Big Red score three straight points and cut the deficit to 9-6. She put down a kill and teamed up with Bennett on a block on back-to-back plays over the run. Carlo would notch three of her four kills for the match, along with two blocks, in the third set, but it was all Brown, as the Bears took the third set, 25-18.
The fourth set reflected the third, with the Bears jumping out to a 6-2 lead. A pair of Cornell points on a Justus kill and Brown attack error kept things close in the early going, 6-4, but Brown put together a 4-2 run from here to put its lead to 10-6 and force a Cornell timeout.
The Big Red responded well out of the timeout, and it was none other than Carlo who was the catalyst. She paired up with Hanan and Bennett for blocks on back-to-back plays, and after a Chang kill, Cornell only trailed by one, 10-9. But three straight points for Brown followed, re-extending the Bears' lead to four, 13-9. Brown held the separation and pulled away late, scoring the last seven points of the set to win the fourth, 25-15, and the match, 3-1.
With the loss, Cornell drops to 4-6 on the season and 0-2 in Ivy League play, while Brown improves to 9-3 on the year and 2-0 in conference action. The Big Red volleyball team will look to bounce back tomorrow when it takes on Yale at 5 p.m. at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn.
